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Many balcony container gardens are shady due to large trees, other buildings, awnings covering the balcony, and walls on either side of the balcony. Full sun allows for a wide range of gorgeous bloomers and full growth of vegetables, but all is not lost with shady balcony container gardens. You just have to know how to successfully plant a container garden in the shade, and you too can have a beautiful and lush garden. Here are 25 container plants that will do well in shadier container gardens. To learn more tips about planting on a shady balcony container garden, read “Tips for 4 Types of Shady Balcony Sites.”

Intro: Also called touch-me-not and many other common names, the sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica) is from South America and southern Central America. Mimosa pudica is a fascinating plant to keep in a balcony garden because it can move. Like the more famous Venus fly traps, the sensitive plant responds to touch.

Intro: Because the bougainvillea plant is salt-tolerant, drought-resistant and survives in warm climates, it is commonly seen in warm coastal areas, such as southern California. Bougainvillea does well in larger plant containers on sunny balcony gardens, and they provide vertical interest to a small garden when grown up a trellis. Its heart-shaped leaves come in a variety of colors, including white, pink, orange and purple. There are many varieties of bougainvillea, including variegated and double-flowered cultivars. This plant will bring a splash of color to your balcony garden.

Intro: The jelly bean plant, also called pork and beans, is an interesting succulent plant that displays jelly beanlike leaves. In the summertime its leaves change from green to bright red, and it bears yellow flowers in the springtime. This colorful succulent does best in hot, sunny apartment balcony gardens and will look best as a “ground cover” in plant containers underneath tall plants with a small footprint, such as a jade plant pruned to look like a tree. The jelly bean plant will also look stunning in a short, squat container set on a table or in a hanging window frame-like plant container.

Intro: The important thing about growing cucumber plants is not their foliage or flowers, but the crop the plant will give you. Cucumbers are relatively large plants, taking up a lot of space with their vines and large leaves, but it is possible to grow these vegetables in containers in a balcony kitchen garden. Choose a large plant container (at least 20 inches deep and 20 inches in diameter), and a tall trellis (4 feet tall or so) that can be placed behind the plant container or staked into the container itself. Train the cucumber plant’s vines to grow up the trellis in order to maximize your floor space and allow the foliage more sun.